On May 16th, the CDC reported the first instance of the MERS virus spreading from human to human in the United States. This wasn’t the first reported incident of the MERS virus in the United States, but the first that was contracted from another patient. The newest case was an Illinois man who had previous contact with the first man, an Indiana man who had recently travelled to Saudi Arabia for work as a healthcare worker. Officials report that the virus spread from one to the other during a forty minute business meeting that took place before the Indiana man grew ill and become hospitalized. At the time of the writing of this article, the Illinois man appears to have recovered and is resting comfortably. Although this is fantastic news, it is frightening to imagine it happening to yourself or a loved one. The MERS virus is a very serious respiratory illness that originated two years ago in the Middle East. Health officials confirm that the virus originated from camels but aren’t sure how it spread to humans. So far, the virus has inflicted 600 people. Of those 600, 175 people have died. That’s nearly thirty percent. Symptoms of MERS include fever, cough and shortness of breath. It’s in the same family of viruses as the cold and the more severe SARS virus. The reason for the high number of deaths is that there isn’t a known cure for the virus. All of this is scary stuff, to be sure, so what can you do to protect you and your family from this oft-deadly virus? Although, there hasn’t been an outbreak in the United States just yet, the potential is out there. We simply don’t know enough about MERS yet to be sure. Therefore, it’s up to you to prepare. This includes taking care of yourself to keep your immunity system strong, recognizing symptoms in people so you can avoid them, and readying your family for a possible extended stay indoors by stocking the right supplies. Daily Bread is your long-term food supplier, providing high quality food storage products to people in need of emergency food storage. Our food products offer the best value on the dollar, lasting 25 years. You will have peace of mind knowing that you will be ready if an outbreak does occur. In addition, the food tastes good too. Unlike other emergency food storage providers, we have real meats and cheeses. All of our freeze-dried lunch/dinner entrees can be prepared by just adding water. For more information about how we can help you stay prepared for any disaster, please contact us today! Image: Shutterstock
